For the 2nd year in a row, Central Academy students created the Iowa State Fair’s official pottery.
For the second year in a row, student-artists at Central Academy have created the official Iowa State Fair collectible pottery. Students in Dara Green’s pottery class produced 500 trays to be sold during this year’s state fair.
The effort is literally a win-win for both the Central Academy and the Iowa State Fair. The work generates funds for Central Academy’s pottery program while sales raise money for the state fair’s Blue Ribbon Foundation. The trays will be available for purchase at retail sites around the fairgrounds while supplies last. (WARNING: shop early … last year the 450 carafes created by Central Academy students sold out in just a few days.)
“We are so honored to be a part of the Iowa State Fair’s rich tradition of their pottery collection again this year,” said Green.
She noted that a 10” x 2” circular tray was chosen as this year’s design because of the versatility of the piece, making trays a trending piece in the world of pottery.
What went into producing the piece? A lot! One hundred and forty students in grades 9-12 participated in this year’s project, with each tray being touched by at least 15 different potters. Why so many? Because of the many steps that go into producing each piece:
- moving the clay
- cutting the clay
- preparing the clay
- rolling
- throwing
- drying
- putting hole handles
- smoothing edges
- stamping
- applying blue to the stamped areas
- applying the decorative transfer
- trimming
- marking
- wrapping in plastic
- quality control
- transferring to dry boards
- wrapping the rims
- loading to the bisque kiln
- unloading the bisque kiln
- wax resisting the bottoms
- glazing
- loading into the glaze kiln
- unloading the glaze kiln
- counting
- labeling
- packing
- delivering
“A lot goes into creating pottery,” noted Green. “We cherish the beauty of handmade objects and embrace each ones’ uniqueness.”
For students, it was a chance to not only develop some new pottery techniques but also life and learning skills such as working in teams, working smarter rather than harder, leadership, training and teaching others, and working together towards a common goal.
Our communications staff visited the pottery studio at Central Academy the other day for a sneak peek at this year’s pottery piece as they were being prepared for delivery to the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Empty boxes normally used to deliver eggs were used to carefully deliver the 500 trays, an apt package for these special objects. We’ve shared some photos of the trays below.
The 2023 Iowa State Fair opens on Thursday, August 10 and runs through Sunday, August 20.
